


Leave a light on when you go

by likeromeoandjuliet



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Life is a bitch that keeps pulling them away from each other, but these little shits keep finding each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-08-17 08:24:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16512773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likeromeoandjuliet/pseuds/likeromeoandjuliet
Summary: “I don’t know how to do this.” He murmurs against her forehead.“We say goodbye.” She whispers, swallowing the lump in her throat as she pulls away to look him. He nods, taking a deep breath.“Goodbye, Betty Cooper.” He says, hands gripping her waist.She smiles sadly. “Goodbye, Jughead Jones. Thank you for the best summer of my life.”“Hey?” He tilts his head when a tear rolls down her cheek. She gazes into his eyes. “You’re my girl. And you always will be.”“Always.” She smiles softly, before pressing her lips to his.OrBetty is Veronica’s friend from New York, who spends the summer in Riverdale. Jughead doesn’t expect to fall in love with her. Betty doesn’t expect the brooding boy to be the best thing that ever happened to her. A summer they’ll never forget.OrThey fall in love in Riverdale. And they meet again around the world. Yet life keeps pulling them apart. But maybe, their love is stronger...





	1. Riverdale I

Veronica Lodge was, by all means, eccentric. She wore a pearl necklace and high heels to high school, she called his childhood best friend ‘Archikins’, she had a driver/bodyguard, she had a strange set of vocabulary Jughead would never get to the bottom of. Veronica Lodge, despite all her flaws, was one of his best friends. She had been living in Riverdale for two years now, had moved from New York City. Jughead has no trouble imagining her in the big city, she belongs but if you had asked him two years ago, when she rolled into town, that he would perfectly imagine her by Archie’s side, sitting in a booth at Pop’s or swimming in Sweetwater River, he would’ve told you her perfect hair and perfect clothes wouldn’t take it. His friend had, however, proven every preconceived idea he had of her wrong. She was strong and kind and she was spontaneous and crazy and did things he never even thought was possible. She supported him like no one ever had and she became, somewhere along the way., more than a friend but like a sister in the way Archie’s always been his brother. His chosen family. The three of them, at Pop’s laughing together. 

Right now, at this very moment in time, right beside him in a booth in Pop’s, is Betty Cooper. She’s Veronica’s best friend from New York and she is spending the summer in Riverdale, of all places. He knows that by the kind of money the girl has, she could probably be in the Caribbean, most likely in a VIP section drinking margaritas, but strangely enough, Betty Cooper chose Riverdale. 

He’s insanely aware of the fact that unfiltered sarcasm might spew from his mouth if he says anything so he keeps his mouth shut most of time they’re in there. He watches her though and she’s nothing like he imagined her to be like when Veronica described her to him. She’s very simple. There are no pearls and no high heels either, there’s Converse sneakers on her feet and a dazzling smile Jughead swears nearly knocked the air out of his lungs. Perhaps, that was a tad dramatic but sue him, the girl was ethereal. 

She’s supposed to go back to New York at the end of the summer, so she can finish high school. She doesn’t know what she wants to be, though she seems to know what she wants. He has a feeling she hates that she was born into privilege, the way her family works sickens her and she’s terrified of becoming her mother, there’s something about the way she says things, a silent fire burning through. Betty Cooper is sweet, probably kind to a fault from what he knows. He wants to know everything about her. 

“You guys have to come over! Mom and dad are on some kind of trip I don’t care about! Just the four of us, please!” Veronica grins at the boys and Jughead groans when Archie nods excitedly. “Jug?” 

He sighs. “Will there be food?” 

•

He’s sitting on the couch with Betty leaning against him. It’s four am. Archie and Veronica are in Veronica’s room. He’s aware of the bare skin of her arm against his own. She’s warm. And he’s suddenly so glad it’s summer. They haven’t stopped talking all night and he’s so wrapped up in the way she talks, he could listen to her forever. 

She’s been to more places than he can count on two hands. She talks about Paris and Rome and London and Shanghai and everywhere she’s been. And she tells him about New York, her home and all the hidden spots she had found around the city. 

She likes to escape. In the middle of all the noise in a city that never sleeps, she likes quiet places, she likes coffee shops no one ever goes to and the library behind her house most people don’t know exists. 

She’s afraid of heights, even though she grew up in a penthouse of a huge building. 

She loves her sister. Despite rarely seeing her. Her sister moved across the country as soon as she finished high school, leading a very different life than what their parents had set them out to lead. Polly’s a free spirit, at times too much, living on the road with a few friends, traveling from town to town with a backpack on her back. Betty envies her freedom and courage. She doesn’t think she has it in her to be that way. 

She wants nothing to do with her family’s company. It’s not for lack of trying by her father. They wanted her to keep the company since they deemed that Polly wasn’t fit to run it. Polly, despite being a smart girl, had never really come through with her academic performance, it’s a miracle itself that she had finished it. And after she left home, it was clear she wasn’t coming back to a life of events and business meetings and putting on a facade. Chic, her half brother, was clearly not an option as well, he’s not even recognized as a family member by her father. Betty likes Chic, though, he’s nice and he’s a musician, a piano player. The fact that he’s a classical one is the only thing her father truly tolerates. 

When Betty Cooper laughs, he swears the universe gets quiet to hear her more carefully. The stars align for the moments he gets to make her laugh. 

“You know what, Jughead? I think this will be the best summer ever.” She smiles at him. 

She kisses him for the first time at six in the morning, when they’re looking out the window at the sunrise over the buildings. 

And he knows, somewhere deep inside his soul, no other lips will ever be as sweet as hers. 

“Betty?” 

He whispers, just before he slips from her embrace, having to be home soon. 

“Can I see you tomorrow?” 

“You can see me forever, Jug.” She smirks. 

She doesn’t know just how true that statement would be. 

•

There’s a place by Sweetwater River that becomes their spot in Riverdale. No one really knows about it, not even Archie and Veronica. Jughead had shown her. He had picked her up on his bike and they had made it there, Betty was amazed by how beautiful it all was. Sometimes, when in the city, she longed for the green of forests. Central Park would never level up to what she had seen outside the city. And in Riverdale, their spot becomes her favorite thing in the whole world. 

It’s been a month. A month since their eyes and their lips had met for the first time. A month since their universes collided and they descended into free fall. Jughead’s scared that he’s not even scared of how fast it all happens. One minute, she’s Veronica’s friend, the next she’s his girlfriend. The next minute, she’s close to everything. 

“Jug, what are you thinking about?” She asks, her head on his chest. She’s trailing patterns with her finger on his skin, through his shirt and she’s got a gorgeous smile on her lips. 

“You.” He says simply with a smile of his own. She looks up at him. “About how you just walked in my life and just...” 

“Just what?” 

“Just made me fall in love with you.” 

She stills for a moment and then she’s smiling so big. She loves him. He knows she does and it doesn’t matter how young they are. His heart is hers in that moment. 

He doesn’t want to think about what will happen when she leaves but he does anyway. He thinks they’re in a bubble, a perfect bubble they had created for themselves and he was so scared of their bubble popping. Its inevitability leaves him a mess and he hates that he’s so in deep that he’s willing to have this girl break his heart. 

It’s a while later after they need air that they separate their lips and she asks him what’s wrong when she notices the faraway look on his eyes. 

“Juggie, what’s wrong?” 

He sighs, pressing his lips to hers one more time. “I don’t want us to talk about this.” 

“What?” She murmurs, green eyes filled with worry. 

“You’ll leave when summer’s over. You’ll go back to New York. It’s gonna change everything.” 

She stays silent for a second and then she takes a deep breath. “We can deal with it later. Not right now. We don’t have to talk about that now.” 

He nods, but his heart can’t help but ache at the pain it’ll feel eventually. “Not right now.” 

•

She takes his virginity in his crappy trailer at Sunnyside. It’s a less than ideal situation but she’s got this glint in her eyes and a softness invading her whole being that sends him to whole new place. She isn’t a virgin, she knows what she’s doing and he’s insanely scared of not being good enough for her. She tells him it’s okay, that she wants this to be special for him, that he has time to make it up to her, that he’ll learn her body like a map eventually. Because for all that matters to her, Jughead Jones deserves the world. He tells her she showed him the whole universe when he was deep inside her. He doesn’t quite lead her to an orgasm but he makes it up to her after his heart rate calms down. He may have been a virgin but he knows a thing or two, so when he disappears under the sheets, she grips his hair and they’re both left sweaty afterwards, still wrapped up in each other. 

They make love by Sweetwater River one night by the fireplace and she’s not quiet when he brings her over the edge. He has a grin on his face for the rest of the night. She was right. He begins to explore her body, memorizing the places that make lose control. A few weeks after their afternoon at Sunnyside, he’s fluent in the language of her body. And he had never been too invested in the idea of sex but with her, he becomes obsessed with everything about her. 

“I love you so much.” He whispers against her lips. 

They’re in her bedroom at Veronica’s house. She had sneaked him in at two in the morning after being on the phone with him for hours, revealing that she was craving Pop’s. Veronica catches them walking into her bedroom, but she just smirks at them and Betty catches a glimpse of the mop of red hair lying on Veronica’s bed before V closes the door. Jughead rolled his eyes at her with a sort of fondness she loved and they walked into her bedroom. 

Two hours later, their clothes are discarded on the floor and they’re in each other’s arms. There’s the soft hum of the air conditioning, their even breaths as they lie together. She’s smiling, he can feel her lips on his chest, and he’s so happy. He doesn’t remember being this happy. His life had always been so glum, so in between sadness and happiness, he never knew what it was like, he assumed the closest he had ever gotten to happiness was seeing Jellybean’s smile on her birthday when he gave her the doll she wanted. 

“What are you smiling about?” He murmurs, brushing his hand through her hair. 

She looks up at him and her smile falters for a second. “I never want to leave Riverdale.” 

“You aren’t meant for a town this small, Betty Cooper.” 

“Neither are you, Jug.” 

He chuckles, shaking his head. “I don’t really believe that, Betts. Look at me, I’m just a Southside guy, I have no hopes of getting out of here.” 

She frowns. “You always think so little of yourself. It hurts me.” 

“Betty...” He sighs. 

“I’m serious, Jughead. You deserve more than what you think you do. You deserve to see the world. Your soul isn’t meant to do all its travels with words you write. You’re meant to leave this town. Go wherever you want. You can do all the things you deem impossible, you just have to run after them.” 

“It’s not that easy, Betty. For you, it is. But my world? It doesn’t work that way.” He shakes his head. 

“You talk as if we don’t live in the same world.” She says, with a slight edge to her voice. 

“We don’t.” He sits up on the bed. “Jesus, Betty. Can’t you see it? Your world is always on the top, I’m under the fucking ground. It’s always been that way.” He rubs his face and she doesn’t say anything. 

And the next few seconds are agonizing and when she opens her mouth, he doesn’t expect the words that come out. “If that’s how you really feel, then maybe we’re making a mistake.” She gulps down the lump in her throat. 

“No.” He says firmly. “Don’t you fucking dare to break up with me over this. I love you, Betty Cooper. Nothing can ever change that, you hear me?” He grabs her face, joining their foreheads together. “We are from different worlds. Your reality is so different from mine. But that doesn’t mean I can’t love you. And it doesn’t mean you can’t love me.” He finishes and she sighs against his lips, brushing hers against his in a soft kiss. “I love you, I love you, I love you.” 

•

In reality they have one summer. They have one summer that is almost over. And they ignore that fact for the time being. It’s getting harder to ignore, though with each day that passes. The phone calls have been getting more frequent between Betty and her parents. 

She doesn’t want to tell him. She needs to and she knows that but every time he smiles at her, she can’t bear the knowledge that once she tells him, that beautiful smile she loves so much will turn into a frown. 

“You have to tell him, B.” Veronica says, a sympathetic look on her face, as they sit on the couch. 

Betty sighs, leaning back against the back of couch. “I know. I’m just trying to find the right moment to do it.”

“There won’t be a right moment, Betty!” Veronica insists. “I know you’re scared that it’ll break you guys up but maybe you can make it work? Lots of couples do long distance!” 

“I’m gonna be in another continent, Veronica. Taking in all the variables, the possibility of us working out is slim. And I’ve been giving a lot of thought about this. We’ve been together for two months and two weeks. I love him like I’ve never loved anyone but I don’t want to hold him back, V. And I think that will happen once I go.” She concludes, tears welling up in her eyes. 

“Oh, B...” Veronica pulls her best friend in for a hug, rubbing her back. “I’m sorry.” 

“Right when I find the best guy in the world, I have to move across the ocean.” 

“You can always fly over it, babe.” 

“If my father lets me.” Betty scoffs. 

“If you two decide to try long distance, we’ll find a loophole, babe. Promise.” Veronica smiles softly. “Your dad won’t even be there.” 

“He has his ways trust me.” Betty mutters. “God, I love Jug so much, V. I’ve never felt this way before.” She sniffles and Veronica brushes a strand of hair out of her face. “Sometimes I wish it didn’t consume me as much as it does. It’d be so much easier.” 

Veronica lets out a soft laugh. “You two are crazy about each other. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. I think one way or another, even if you do break up, you’ll find your way back eventually.” 

•

“No, mother, I am not being disobedient! I’m doing exactly what you want me to do! I just don’t see a point in leaving a week early when everything is ready for me. I don’t need a week to get settled. I’ll be fine. It’s London, we’ve been there. I know my way around the city. Aunt Mary lives there, I’ll be fine if I go when I was meant to go!” She argues, exasperated. 

“Elizabeth, it’s settled. You have a meeting with the principal, it’s important. You have to be there. No argument will dissuade us from the plan. You will do what is asked of you.” Her mother’s tone is one she’s heard far too many times. You will do what is asked of you. That’s what she’s always said and Betty has, for the most part, obeyed. She’s been what they wanted her to be. The perfect daughter. Polly could never work with that, she was always meant to be a wild one, free to roam. Betty’s done all they asked and still, they keep asking her. So maybe, if it wasn’t for Jughead, London would be perfect. Perhaps being an ocean away would give her freedom. The same freedom Polly chased after, the same freedom her mother had once chased after only to be caught up in the web of her family, away from Chic and from the man she had loved once. 

And Jughead. Her Jughead. The boy from the wrong side of the tracks, who thought he didn’t deserve love, who thought he was a burden to the people who loved him. She can love him forever , she wants to. She wants to learn and re learn every part of him like a song, she wants to discover new things everyday. She wants him forever. 

“Understood, mother. A week from now, I’ll be moved in, in London. Just as you want me to do. As I always do.” She tells her, defeated. 

“Good, Elizabeth. I’m glad to hear it. Frank will be picking you up. Send my best regards to Hiram and Hermione.” 

Before she even says goodbye, the call disconnects and there’s a pain in her chest, as though someone is gripping her heart in their hands and destroying it. She doesn’t want to leave. She wants his arms forever for every second she’s allowed to have them. 

“London, huh?” 

She freezes and she feels as though time stops. He’s there. Her Jughead standing with a heartbroken look on his face. 

“Juggie...” She’s a bit breathless, her eyes filled up with tears. 

“When were planning on telling me? The day you left, Betty?” He questions and a strangled sound comes out from her mouth. His tears mirror hers and she can hear her heart dropping to the wooden floor. 

“I was going to tell you. I just didn’t know how, Jug. I- I swear to god-“ 

“How about...Hey, Jug! I’m moving halfway across the world!” His voice cracks. “London, Betty! That’s not New York, I can’t get on a bike and see you! I can’t-“ 

“What are you saying, Jughead? That you want us to break up?” She had been so hell bent on them being apart, on the fact that she would hold him back until she was met with the real possibility. Of saying goodbye indefinitely. 

“I don’t know, Betty. I haven’t thought about this. Maybe if I had known-“ 

“Then what?” She asks, stepping closer. 

“Maybe I wouldn’t have let myself fall this deep for you, then maybe I could’ve said goodbye easily. Then maybe my heart wouldn’t be broken just at the thought of not being able to touch you, to kiss you, to hold you.” He murmurs, pulling her to him, she cries softly her forehead hitting his chest, her tears staining his t shirt. “I love you. But I don’t know how to make this work.” 

She takes a deep breath, looking up at him. “I’ve thought a lot about this. I’ve thought of flying out every weekend and I’ve thought of everything that would stop me from doing that. Knowing that it will. I’ve thought about waiting for you to wake up just to call you and every solution would kill us. Eventually. You’ll resent me or I’ll resent you. Cause I’ll be holding back from living your life. And you’ll-“ 

“I’ll be holding you back from living yours.” He finishes for her. 

She nods. “Maybe.” She whispers. “I say we live this last week to the fullest. And maybe a year from now, I’ll come back to you. And we can start over.” 

“I’ll always find my way back to you.” He promises, pressing his lips to her forehead. 

“Always.” 

•

The last week they share is magical, in Betty’s mind. They do everything they always do but they take longer in savoring each moment, in savoring each other and it feels special, as though with every second his lips are placed on her skin, he’s memorizing every detail. When he looks at her, he’s memorizing the way her eyes shine when she looks back. When he looks at her, he’s memorizing each different smile. He’s memorizing her, because he wants to remember their summer forever. He wants to remember her forever. Every inch of her body, of her mind and her soul. 

Eventually the day comes and they don’t sleep the night before. They lie in bed together until the agonizing sound of her alarm clock sounds throughout the room. Her packed bags are by the door and the pain in her chest gets bigger and bigger. 

His head is on her chest and she’s crying as she holds him a little tighter, kisses him for a bit longer before they leave her bed. 

They take a shower together, they eat breakfast quietly side by side and they sit on the couch and they hold each other until Frank, the family driver, rings the doorbell. 

Frank takes her suitcases down to the car, as they go down. And then Frank is in the car and they’re alone, outside the Pembroke. 

“I don’t know how to do this.” He murmurs against her forehead. There’s something entirely different about the way they’re holding each other, different from any touch they had before. His lips take a little longer against her skin and his eyes are closed. 

“We say goodbye.” She whispers, swallowing the lump in her throat as she pulls away to look him. He nods, taking a deep breath.

“Goodbye, Betty Cooper.” He says, hands gripping her waist. 

She smiles sadly. “Goodbye, Jughead Jones. Thank you for the best summer of my life.” 

“Hey?” He tilts his head when a tear rolls down her cheek. She gazes into his eyes. “You’re my girl. And you always will be.” 

“Always.” She smiles softly, before pressing her lips to his. 

He watches the car drive away and he thinks that nothing has ever hurt like this before. His soul knows, however, that wherever Betty Cooper is, somehow, he’ll find his way back to her.


	2. Mexico

The lady from the grocery store is too nice to him. It’s been a year since he got here and he still isn’t used to how nice everyone is. He has a house by the ocean and María, the old lady from the grocery store, brings him his grocery because she claims he’d forget to eat if it wasn’t for her. 

“Siempre a escribir en tu book, Siñor Jones. Tienes de mirar las estrellas, niño. Live life!” She pats his cheek as she hands him the bags and he laughs softly at her. 

“Gracias, María.” He kisses her cheek, leaving the old lady with a grin on her lips. 

His Spanish had never been the greatest but he had gotten much better at it ever since arriving in Mexico. He liked it, he liked the people, he liked waking up and looking at the ocean the second he went outside. He liked to take his computer and write on the porch. He was finished with the book now and he had sent it to Ronnie so she could read it. He had yet to hear her thoughts and he wasn’t quite sure what to do with anyway. 

He had been working as a mechanic at the only shop in town and he quite liked it, but realistically, he knew he didn’t want to stay in Mexico forever. He knew he couldn’t. 

Betty Cooper had been right. He wasn’t meant for a small town like Riverdale but he also wasn’t meant to be stuck in one place away from Riverdale. He wanted more. Needed something more. 

She was a dream he had cast aside. She hadn’t returned after finishing high school in London and he hadn’t stayed in Riverdale. His mother had returned to Riverdale with his sister just as he was leaving. Betty was staying in London for college. They had one phone call. 

She had said: “Someday, Jughead Jones, I’ll love you forever.” 

That someday hadn’t been any day for the past two and half years. He knew, from Veronica, that she had been working, not for her father but that she had started a non profit organization from the money she had inherited from her grandmother after she had passed away. She was helping people, building schools, fundraising so she could give people a chance at a better life, at having an education. And she had also been writing articles for newspapers and magazines, which he had read. And even from afar, he couldn’t be prouder. The girl who longed for freedom finally had it. 

And him, the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, had it too. 

He still remembers when a couple strode into town on two motorbikes, one of which had broken down. Jughead had been the one to fix their bike. The part that the bike needs had taken two weeks to arrive and on those couple of weeks, he had learnt that they were traveling across the continent. And that after they got to Mexico, they were gonna go to Europe. Their plan was to go where fate led them, only to have a few destinations planned out. Jughead liked that idea, the idea of fate carrying you to beautiful adventures, so when they invited him on along their ride, he said yes. He was done with high school, he didn’t know where his dad was, he had no idea what to do with his life so he took all the money he had saved up, clothes, his phone, his laptop and went with them. Got on his bike and rode with them until they got to a little town in the middle of nowhere. And Jughead still doesn’t know exactly what made him stay. It might’ve been the people, it might’ve been the ocean, but something pulled him to a place that didn’t even have a cinema or a place like Pop’s, just a little restaurant named ‘Abuelita’ of all things. 

Once he was sat inside a little coffee shop by the ocean, he began writing. And after that he just couldn’t stop. 

And now he was done. 

He’s walking down the street to the little coffee shop he walked into on his first night and tonight, the night is louder than it usually is. It’s Juan’s birthday, María’s son and they’re celebrating. There’s music playing inside, someone’s playing the guitar and there’s laughter, so much laughter his heart feels a little lighter in his chest. 

When he gets inside, he hugs mostly everyone. It’s hard not to know almost everyone and these people had welcomed him into the community with open arms. He drinks a beer with them, always too careful, memories of his father always haunting him. And people sing and he enjoys the simplicity of their worlds, but his heart still longs for her and he wants to share his memories with her again, he wants to lie in bed with her, telling her about the things he’d learned, everything he’d done since she left. 

“That’s the girl?” He hears Juan’s voice as he sits beside him. Juan is thirty and he’s been the one person he’s talked to most since he had gotten there. 

He’d been looking at a picture of Betty on his phone. “What?” He asks, snapping out of his gaze. 

“Your girl? That her?” Jughead nods his head, a soft sigh escaping his lips. “I had a girl like that. In the big city. She was beautiful. The most beautiful girl I’ve ever met.” Juan smiles, leaning back against the chair. 

“What happened to her?” 

“She’s my wife.” He laughs. “What’s your story?” 

 

He sighs. “She moved to London. We broke up. And we promised that someday we’d find our way back to each other.” Jughead breathes out, looking out at the ocean. “She’d like it here. You’re all so...alive.” 

“You love her, this girl?” 

“Like I’ve never loved anyone. She’s the most amazing being I’ve ever met.” 

“Then why are you still here?” 

In that moment his phone rings, the familiar face of one Veronica Lodge staring right back at him. 

He laughs to himself. Yes, fate does work in strange ways. 

•

“Yes, Veronica, I am on my way to the airport right now. You don’t have to worry.” He laughs softly into the phone. 

“I swear to god, Forsythe. You have been a goddamn hermit for the past year, I don’t even know if you have cars to get you to the airport.” Veronica grumbles, sighing. 

“Juan is driving me, I am all packed and ready for LA.” 

“You better be cause you wrote an amazing book, Jug. And Eli really loved it. This is good.” Veronica tells him, the spice in her ever growing. “So don’t do that thing where you don’t think you’re good enough. I’ll kill you for it!” 

He smiles. “I know, Ronnie. Thank you. For everything. And I’ll see you after LA, can’t refuse a free plane ticket to New York.” He jokes and she scoffs. 

“Bye, Jug. Love you.” 

“Love you too, Ronnie.” 

He presses the end button and smiles to himself. Ronnie did so much for him and he was already doing the thing in his brain. He thinks he doesn’t deserve what she does. She had sent a copy of his book to a publisher who was a friend of the family, but as he was told by V, wouldn’t publish anything unless he genuinely liked it. Turns out, Eli loved his book and decided that he wanted to publish it. He couldn’t be more grateful for Veronica. 

When he looks up from his phone, the car his parked and they’re in front the airport. He takes a deep breath, looking back at Juan. 

“Safe travels, my friend. I hope to see you again.” Juan smiles a gentle smile. 

“Thank you for everything.” He brings the man in for a hug and pats his back before releasing him and exiting the car. “Hey? Take care of my bike, will you?” Juan nods with a grin on his face. 

“She and I will have a good time together.” He laughs. 

Juan drives away and he looks at the entrance of the airport, a new feeling settling on his chest. 

“LA it is.” He breathes out before taking a step forward. 

•

“Yes, please email that to me as soon as possible, I really need to go over it.” Betty says, with a sigh as she looks up, trying to find her flight’s gate. “Alright, I have to go. My flight is leaving soon.” 

There had been a mistake when she had booked her tickets. She was already meant to be in London yesterday but they had messed up the dates and she had to stay for a day longer. Not that it was all bad, she deserved a break but she would much rather be in London rather than at her cousin’s bachelorette party for a day longer. It was torture enough that she had to go but she supposed it was the least she could do. Her mother had been the one to convince her father to let her go after her own ideas and while it had been a hard task, her mother had been successful. But it meant that it came with a compromise. And Betty couldn’t complain too much. So she’s worked extra hard on everything in order for it to be successful and then afterwards, things happened so fast, she hadn’t had the time to breathe. 

She finds airports stressful. She always has, there’s a quality to it that disrupts her center, making her feel a little unbalanced. She’s glad it’s a temporary place, although for the past few years, she’s spent a lot of time in and out them. It’s gradually gotten better. But airports are always a place you leave to go somewhere. And she’s always left too many places. 

She hates the memory of leaving New York for London, starting from the car ride from Riverdale to the airport. It felt so lonely, so harsh and cold to get on that plane. She had said goodbye to the love of her life, her Jughead and there was so much pain, she felt suffocated. She wanted nothing more than to stay, in Riverdale, in New York, anywhere closer to him. 

Her mind must be playing tricks on her. She sees him, sitting ahead of her when the memory of a boy wearing a beanie pops up in her mind. Except there is no beanie on his head and she can’t believe in the possibility of it actually being him. It can’t be him, of course not. She’ll probably look like a lunatic if she runs to the man she’s seeing. 

•

He’s sitting with headphones, reading a book while he waits for his flight. He doesn’t have much luggage, despite the fact that he was now moving out of a country. He hopes this is a good thing. He’ll be able to support himself, other than a job as a mechanic. Maybe he’ll even have enough to fly to Betty someday soon. 

He remembers her skin on his and every time he thinks of their time together, the memory of her is so vivid. Her lips, the smell of her hair, the green of her eyes at sunrise the night they met, her voice singing quietly to him while he lied on her chest, her hand touching his body. He remembers being buried inside her, her gasps and moans, her hushed ‘I love you’. The first girl he was ever with and the only one so far. He’s not sure how he’s survived this long without even seeing her. 

Betty Cooper is one of a kind. The love of his life. The woman of his dreams. The sweetest smile. The most beautiful eyes. And he hopes someday he can be with her again. 

It isn’t the first time his heart has jumped out of his chest. He’s seen her in people in crowds before, sometimes there’s someone’s blonde hair that deceived him, makes him think it’s her. 

His mind must be deceiving him now. 

The girl he sees in the distance is wearing a surprised look on her face, she’s looking right back at him, frozen in her way over, a suitcase by her side. 

He stand up, takes his headphones off and shoves them in his pocket before almost sprinting towards her. 

If it is her. 

If his brain isn’t fooling his heart. 

It isn’t. It’s her. In the flesh. In an airport in Mexico. 

And when he’s close enough, they don’t say anything. He smiles widely before wrapping his arms around and she holds him tighter than she had before. 

“Juggie” Her voice is muffled by his t shirt. “Oh my god.” 

“I though I was hallucinating or something.” He laughs, pulling away to look at her. “What the hell are you doing in Mexico?” 

He looks older, harder in a way she hadn’t expected. His shoulders are broader, a little more muscle under his white T-shirt but the softness in his eyes is still there and she can’t stop her smile. 

“Cousin’s bachelorette party.” She answers. “What are you doing here?” 

Jughead chuckles softly. “It’s a long a story.” He says. “How much time do you have?” 

Suddenly a loud voice announces that her gate is open and her stomach drops. “That’s my flight so no time. I’m so sorry, Jug.” She tells him. 

He doesn’t hide his disappointment, his shoulders slump and he looks into her eyes with a sad look on his face. “It’s alright. I’ll tell you the story someday.” 

She tears up, placing her hand on his cheek. “I think we’re cursed, Jughead Jones.” She says, tears escaping her eyes. “The universe must’ve cursed on the day we were born. We manage to be in the same place, at the same time and we have to leave each other again.” 

He smiles sadly. “Someday. That’s the promise, right?” 

“Someday, Juggie.” She breathes out. 

They exchange numbers, he had changed his and she had lost her phone a few months ago and he watches her leave for the second time in his life and the emptiness doesn’t get any better, she looks back at him and he almost wishes she hadn’t seeing her eyes pains him even more, but there’s hope in the green of her eyes. Someday. 

When he can’t see her anymore and he’s sure she’s beyond the glass door, he calls her. 

“Jug?” Her voice sends warmth through his chest. 

“Betts...I still love you.” He tells her. 

“You’re making me wanna stay.” She sighs into the phone. 

“Don’t.” He says, no matter how much it hurts. “You do your thing and I’ll do mine. My heart is yours, Betty Cooper and it always will be. I’ll wait for you.” 

“I love you.” 

She’ll tell him that again and again in Paris.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the lovely comments! You have made this girl very very happy! Seriously, thank you! Hope you like this chapter! Next chapter is Paris and ain’t Paris the city of love?


	3. Paris

In Dante’s Inferno, there’s a story of two lovers, doomed to an afterlife of pain. Paolo and Francesca. The two lovers, trapped in a forbidden romance. He was the brother of her husband, a man she did not love. And they had been caught together by this man. To stop him from killing Paolo, Francesca stands in front of him when her husband attacks her lover with a sword and dies. Her husband then kills Paolo. They are sent to first ring of hell, because blinded by lust and love, they committed adultery. Their punishment is that they will see each other for all eternity but will never touch each other’s skin again. But for brief moment in time, Dante and Virgil stop the winds that prevent them from being together again. And they can hold each other. 

Betty wants someone to stop the winds surrounding her and Jughead. 

It’s not as often that she thinks about him. She used to let him consume her mind, all day everyday. Now, it was in the dead of night, when she lied in bed that his eyes would appear in her mind. Their nights, theirs days coming back to her at once. She thinks of him a lot, but not as much as she used to. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t love him any less, she still does, her heart longs for him even when she finds herself in the arms of other men. 

She’s walking back to her hotel, after roaming around the city for a while. She remembers the first time she had ever been to Paris. She was ten and she was enamored by the city. Everything about it felt so special. Polly had hated it. She was fourteen and they hadn’t walked through the streets of Paris, their driver had driven them everywhere and Polly had wanted to roam around. Betty loved it nonetheless. And back then, the times were much simpler. She doesn’t remember her parents fighting, there was no pressure to take over companies and no huge expectations placed on her. 

Now she was in Paris for a conference. She is speaking about human trafficking and what her organization is doing to help fight it. For a few years now, she had been helping human trafficking survivors get restart in the world after getting out. Each girl that spoke to her of the horrors they had been through, kept her going through with every plan, well aware that she couldn’t end it all. But she could help these women, these children and men. And they’d been making a difference. Informations from victims that she had helped had shut down several human trafficking networks. 

After the conference, she had left. Sat in a little café outside, she simply enjoyed the peace of being alone in a gorgeous city. Spring was beautiful in Paris, but then again Paris was beautiful any time of the year. 

She knows Jughead would love Paris. The city holds so much history in every street you cross. In every place, writers and painters and artists had walked those same streets. He’d probably write another book with just one glance. 

Betty hasn’t talked to him in years. Not for lack of trying. After Mexico, she had called him when she landed but he hadn’t picked up. He hadn’t picked up on the ten times she had called afterwards. Or on the days that followed. So she had stopped trying. Life was too busy to sit by a phone waiting for his call, for a text even. She wasn’t mad at him though, they had the right to live their lives. They weren’t bound to each other, it was the exact opposite. They were apart in more ways than one. 

She knew she had changed. Life and time had made sure of it. It’s an inevitability. You fall, you get back up, you learn and you evolve. As you grow older, you don’t stay the same. And she definitely wasn’t the same teenage girl who went to parties by her parents’ side, who wore pretty dresses and ball gowns. She also wasn’t the girl who kissed a boy at six in the morning the day she met him or the girl who offered him her heart and her body, the girl who had kissed every inch of him. She held the memories of that girl and a small part of her, still lived in the depths of who she is. But she’s not the same. And she’s sure he isn’t as well.

She still loves the boy she made love to by Sweetwater River and she hopes to one day love the man who wrote a book about the girl he fell in love with in Riverdale. Her. 

There’s no way to be unrealistic about her and Jughead. Her friends are right. It’s a fantasy at best. Even though she wholeheartedly believes in every promise they made, she stopped chasing after things, holding herself back from certain situations because she was waiting for him. Nowadays, she had faith that if it was meant to be, then someday, they would find each other again. Someday. That was the promise. Even if they’re eighty and they’ve lived their lives, that someday still stands. So someday it is. 

Once she’s inside her hotel room, she stands near the window, a clear view of the sunset over the city behind the Eiffel Tower before her and she smiles to herself. It isn’t always that she gets the time to appreciate the little things. But she can’t complain. Everything she had worked for had gotten her to all these beautiful places, though she never denied that being born into the Coopers gave her an easier life than 99% of the world, she recognizes her privilege and she has her own sister to thank for that. Polly had slowly installed in her that awareness even when she was fourteen and Betty was ten. In that same city. She had told her to look around, to watch the world around her and Betty understood more clearly what she meant. The homeless people on the streets, people running places to go to work, buses and subways and people who didn’t have time to stare up at the buildings, people who didn’t have drivers and people who didn’t fly in private planes. They were privileged, heavily so and Polly always made sure Betty knew that. And Betty began to despise it, helping people around her as well as she could in her young age. Now she was just doing it in a larger scale.

After taking a bath and getting dressed, she decides to go down to the restaurant, instead of ordering in like she had the night before. 

She hasn’t even started eating dinner when she hears his voice. 

“You are a sight for sore eyes, Betty Cooper.”

•

She holds him tightly in her arms before he sits in front of her, a waiter coming over to their table to take his order. And then he’s smiling at her, so big and bright, she feels a little lightheaded at the dream she’d stopped chasing being right in front of her, in a black suit and a dazzling smile, even more gorgeous than he’d been before. 

“Mexico.” She says after a few seconds of small talk of what they were both doing in Paris. “What were doing there?” 

He smiles at her gently. “I lived in Mexico for a year, after high school.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, it’s a funny story, actually.” He chuckles to himself. “This couple rolled into town and their bikes were broken down so I helped them out. They were traveling across the continent and the world, really, anywhere they wanted. They stayed for about two weeks and they invited me to go with them.” He pauses, staring back at her with the same intensity she does. “I did. And I ended up in this small town in Mexico by the ocean. There was nothing there but I was drawn to it. I stayed for about a year and the couple went on with their travels. When I was there, I just got this insane inspiration to write. I hadn’t written in so long, hadn’t felt the need to write anymore but something made me do it.” He tells her. 

“What made you leave?” She questions, resting her chin on her hand, her green eyes glistening as she takes in his story. 

“I finished the book and I sent it to Ronnie who without me knowing about it sent it to a publisher and the publisher loved it. So I had to fly out, leaving my tiny house and my bike behind.” He says with a fond grin on his face. “I went to the nearest airport. And I saw you.” 

There’s a pause and she doesn’t know if seeing him in Mexico had been a good thing. Perhaps it had only heightened the pain of not being able to have him back. But then again, it had fooled her heart for a little while longer. 

“I read your book.” She mentions softly after a few seconds and he visibly takes a deep breath. “Is it...” She trails off and he nods. 

“Yeah, it’s about you, us. Inspired entirely by you.” He says this to her in a soft voice, reaching for her hand across the table.

“I...thank you. I loved it. I can see why the world does too.” 

He’s the sweetest man she knows. He had dedicated his book to her, in his own way, he had made a forever out of their love story. She just wasn’t sure if that love story is over just yet. 

It isn’t.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call. A lot happened and I want to tell you why. Everything got a bit messed up for a while and I didn’t know how to deal with everything. And you didn’t deserve that part of me, Betty.” 

His vulnerability makes her heart ache, the way he’s looking at her shakes her in a way she had never prepared for and all she wants is for this night to last forever, because she needs everything this man is. 

“Go on a walk with me?” 

•

“I haven’t talked to Ronnie in a while.” She confesses to him, her heart heavy in her chest.

“I know.” He responds, squeezing her hand in his. She knows that the bond him and Ronnie have is stronger than what she had. They understood each other like brother and sister, protected each other like such. She doesn’t imagine Jughead and Veronica not being friends. “She misses you.” 

She frowns. “I don’t know how it happened. We just gradually stopped talking and things got so busy…I don’t know…” Betty trails off and he stops her, pulling her with him so they can sit in a bench overlooking the Seine. She leans her head on his shoulder, legs on his. 

“They have a baby. Archie and Ronnie.” He says, with a gentle smile on his lips, his fingers tracing the scars in her palms. “His name is James and he’s two. You should’ve seen Ronnie changing his diaper for the first time.” He chuckles. She’s not anticipating the pain that cuts through her. It brings tears to her eyes. One of her oldest friends had a kid she didn’t know about, she had completely failed at keeping in touch with her. “I’m his godfather.” He adds proudly. 

“I wish- I wish I would’ve been there. For everything.” She tells him, a few tears she had tried to keep at bay escaping her eyes. He wipes them away. 

“Life happens, it goes on, baby.” 

They’re still sitting on the fourth bench in a row of six benches when he kisses her for the first time in years. And his lips are just as she remembered and for him, her lips are still the sweetest. He holds her against him and she grabs onto both sides of his face. And he’s sixteen again, discovering her body for the first time. 

They don’t walk slowly back to the hotel as they did when they left, they’re rushed and they kiss each other again in the elevator all the way up to her room. She tells him she loves him when they’re in bed, bare and with lazy grins on both their faces, his hand tracing patterns on the skin of her back. He doesn’t say it back, instead he kisses her again and shows her how much he loves her, with every inch of him. 

She wants to ask him why he hadn’t called or texted. But she doesn’t. He tells her everything anyway. 

His fingers are intertwined with hers, keeping him grounded, steady. “My dad died.” Her stomach drops and he gulps down the lump in his throat. “The day after I saw you. I got a call from a hospital in Greendale. They couldn’t call Gladys so I was his emergency contact.” He shakes his head, she doesn’t say anything and he continues speaking, slowly, trying to get a hold of his emotions. “He overdosed on heroin along with alcohol. I hadn’t heard from him in years.” 

“Jug...” She murmurs, looking up at him. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” 

He sighs. “I went through a dark time for a while. And I should’ve called you, but I just...I didn’t think you deserved me like that, Betts.” 

She furrows her brows. “What do you mean?” 

“I screwed up, multiple times, did some things I regret and I didn’t want you to see me like that. Like the mess that I was back then.” He tells her. 

“I wouldn’t have cared. You always go on about what I deserve. But I’m not some princess who needs everything to be perfect, who will only love you when you’re okay. I’m human, Jug and i can handle the bad times too. That’s what it’s supposed to be like.” 

He stills for a moment, as if trying to figure out what exactly she’s trying to say. “What exactly is this supposed to be like?” He questions quietly, hesitantly. “Every time we see each other, we can’t help but try to be together for as long as possible. And every time, we get separated eventually. Every single time. So what exactly are we?” 

She feels the whole world freeze in time for a few seconds. She cracks her brain for something, anything but she doesn’t know. Soulmates? Soulmates that fate doesn’t want together? Kindred spirits? Some sort of energy drawing them to and away from each other for brief period of time? Magnets? Or just two people who can’t let go of the past? Of each other? Of some unfinished conclusion to the story of them? 

The truth, she doesn’t know what they are. She does know that most of who she is loves him. She does know that what she feels whenever he’s near and their souls and their bodies meet again, it’s real. It’s the realest thing she’s ever felt, she feels closer to the earth whenever his arms are holding her steady. 

She tells him the truth. “I don’t know.” She murmurs, running her hand over his cheek. “I don’t know what we are. But I love you. And I don’t know if I can be with you right now, but I love you. I think a part of me always will. And I just want to love you for as long as life lets me. And right now, that’s three days. But maybe, someday, it can be more.” 

•

Two days later, they’re in a little café and they don’t talk about goodbyes. They never do. It doesn’t matter. The now is so much better, when she holds him, when their lips touch, living is so much better when you do it in the now. So, they live the now. And they love each other in the now. Tomorrow? That’s another day. A day to worry about tomorrow and tomorrow. 

For now, he smiles at her and she feels safe and content and she’s in Paris, with the love of her life. 

“We’ll always have Paris.” 

They’re in the airport, surrounded by hundreds of people, suitcases by their side, each going to fly somewhere different.

“Of all the gin joints, huh?” He smirks back at her. “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

“I’ll think of you. Anywhere. I always do.” She pulls him to her, pressing her lips to his. They kiss slowly, wanting to savor each moment they have left. 

When he pulls away, he smiles. “Meet me here. A year from now. This day, at 12.”

A year later, she’s standing in that same place, at the same time. And she waits for him. 

But he never shows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for taking so long with this!!! By the way, I promise to update “you’re the white swan in my photograph” soon! 
> 
> Anyway, tell me what you think of this!


	4. London

She hadn’t expected the loneliness that came with waiting for him that day. The pain of him not showing up, of calling him and having no call back, several times. And she definitely hadn’t expected the phone call from Michael, her boyfriend at the time, asking her where she was and why she was crying. 

She remembers Josie and Cheryl, her friends from London, telling her that she couldn’t keep holding back from committing to Michael, that being with Jughead at any given chance was toxic. And she was aware of that. But maybe it wasn’t as toxic as they made it out to be, they just couldn’t let go of their past, their unfinished path. 

And Michael was good guy. He wasn’t Jughead, but he was good to her then and he still is. But nothing will ever compare to Jughead, she knows that unless she has him again, that intensity, the overwhelming feelings she feels around him won’t happen ever again. So she’s resigned to the fleeting happiness Michael provides, the safety of her choice. 

And that day, in Paris, alone, she had made a decision. She was done. With her past with Forsythe Pendleton Jones III. They had broken up because they didn’t want to hold each other back and she felt as though that hadn’t happened at all. They were still as caught up in each other as if no time had passed, so wrapped up they couldn’t move on. So she was done, in that moment, after four hours of waiting with tears in her eyes, of calling him, of realizing how crazy the whole situation was, she was done with her past. And she went back to London. 

And she accepted Michael’s proposal. 

Everything was perfect. The perfect job, the perfect house, the perfect fiancé, the perfect little life she had always loathed her parents for. Now she was living it. She loved Michael, sure, but she wasn’t in love with him. Micheal isn’t spontaneous, Michael likes normal, he likes nice restaurants and vacations in the Bahamas, he likes to shop for clothes online so he doesn’t have the trouble to leave the house, he hates taking walks in the park and he doesn’t like dogs. He doesn’t like getting dirty, even sand at the beach bothers him. He’s a doctor and he’s smart and he’s good with kids. And she’s not in love with him and she’s not innocent enough to make herself think she is. She knows she’s settling, knows it’s comfortable and safe to be with Michael. She stays anyway. 

The one that was never a sure thing haunts her, however. Jughead haunts her dreams and her thoughts, in the back of her mind. Every what if maddening and terrifying. But she knows she can’t have him, not anymore. Not after him not showing up in Paris, not after him not answering every phone call. She can’t have him. She shouldn’t want to have him. Yet all she can think about is their weekend in Paris, the love, the happiness she had felt with him. She wishes she could feel that way again. With his lips on hers, lips on her skin and a real smile on her face. 

Jughead’s in London. On a press tour for his novel. She knows this because someone from the office mentioned it briefly, asking if she wanted to come to see it, him, J.P Jones. She’s fully aware that it’s dangerous to be there, knows the inevitability of their pull to one another. It’s unavoidable. Even if the decision had been made not to chase their love, long ago. He is in her city. The city that had torn them apart. He’s bursting into the world she had created, by herself, with no traces of him but the photograph of them kept in her bedside drawer. 

So Betty ends up at the conference anyway. It’s a rash decision, a slip second and once she’s sat there, she thinks she’s made a mistake. But she was in the street where it was being held when she had seen the poster for the conference. So she hadn’t thought twice, she walked in. When she sits down, it hasn’t started yet, he’s not on stage but there are many people eagerly waiting for him. She identifies her feeling as pride. She’s proud of the boy who once thought he wouldn’t amount to anything, now having people all over the world admiring his work. 

The sound of his voice evokes memories and feelings. Her heart is beating rapidly, her eyes fixated on him, his dazzling smile, his gorgeous eyes as he speaks passionately about his story. A story of a teenage girl who solves a mystery with her friends, who goes on crazy adventures all over the world, a girl who loves a boy and goes above and beyond to save him. 

He doesn’t see her. She makes sure of it, she keeps a low profile until the autograph session, where she can’t help but to stay at the back of the line. And she waits for him, just like she did in Paris, only this time he’s there, right in front of her. Older, but still the same. 

She holds her breath. 

He’s already signed the book in his hands. 

“Who should I make it out to?” He says.

“Elizabeth Cooper.” 

He looks up at her. “Betty?” 

•

They end up at a coffee shop, on the corner of the street. And she doesn’t really know what to say to him. She had spent so much time with all these thoughts and feelings because of everything that happened and now that he’s right in front of her, she’s a little bit speechless. 

“I’m sorry about Paris.” He tells her, his eyes revealing sincerity. “I wanted to be there, but I...there’s so much I wanna tell you, Betty. For you to understand why I pulled away.” He sighs, running a hand through his hair. 

“I waited for you that night. In Paris. I flew to Paris, dropped everything to just go.” Her voice isn’t accusatory or angry, she’s soft when she says it, a bit disappointed, very confused at the mystery that surrounded the man in front of her. “I wish you would’ve just called. A text even.” 

He frowns. “And I should’ve, Betty.” 

“Then why didn’t you?” 

“How much time have you got?” She feels as though they’ve asked that question too many times now. 

“Right now?” She questions. 

“This week.” 

“A couple of days. I’m flying to New York.” 

She doesn’t tell him that she’s flying to New York to get married to Michael, in a grand bullshit wedding she knows she’ll hate, the exact kind of wedding her mother always wanted her to have. The exact kind of wedding she didn’t want. But who is she kidding anyway, she’s not even sure why she’s marrying Michael anymore. 

“Okay.” He nods. “Then have dinner with me, not in a restaurant or anywhere crowded. I asked them to rent an apartment instead of a hotel. Come over and we can talk.”

She sighs. “Jughead, you know we shouldn’t.” It’s implied, what will happen, or at least she thinks it will, she’s not sure being close to him in a confined space will do her any good. She’s certain it won’t. 

“Please. I miss you and I want you to know everything. I think I’m ready to tell you everything, things I didn’t tell you in Paris, things you deserve to know.” 

Betty’s mind is running at a speed it only reaches when it’s about Jughead, the should I or shouldn’t I? The knowing she definitely shouldn’t, but always questioning how far they can go. When will it stop? Or when will it go on? When will she be able to have closure? 

Her phone rings. She glances at it before looking back at him. “I have to go.” 

“Wait!” He says, grabbing her arm when she stands up. He gets a piece of paper and writes down the address of the apartment he’s staying at. “If you change your mind.” 

She breathes out, nodding before turning her back to him and walking away. 

•

Michael isn’t home. He’s on a business trip and he’s flying directly to New York for the wedding so she’s home alone, with a glass of wine and some old playlist playing. As much of a great guy as Michael is, he works too much. But then again so does she, they spend more time apart than together so she enjoys the spaces of quiet in their house, the weekends he isn’t home and she’s alone with her thoughts. The little piece of paper on the table, makes her want to get up and go. Jughead’s messy handwriting sends shivers down her spine, telling her she shouldn’t. She knows that from the second she sets foot out the door, she’s a goner. The decision is made. Jughead Jones draws her in like a magnet, invading her mind with thoughts she shouldn’t be having when she’s about to get married in days. Josie was right. She hasn’t let go of their past because they never got a chance at their future. They had never risked anything, they had never made an effort to make it work. They had just deemed it too hard, thinking it would hold them back from going on with their lives, they hadn’t given themselves a chance to do it. 

She wants to know everything he has to tell her, she realizes. She wants to give him a chance to explain, he wants him to change her mind, she wants him to tell her not to get married, she wants him to kiss her and make her forget about everything, every doubt, every mistake, she wants him to be hers, even for a last time, even if it is as a final goodbye. 

So Betty Cooper drives to the address written on the small piece of paper. London feels strangely quiet at one in the morning and she’s not used to quiet on the streets. She know her mind is somewhere else, on him, certainly. It’s always him. One way or the other. 

Once she’s at the door of his apartment, she becomes a nervous mess of ‘what am I doing here?’ And then he opens the door, a surprised look on his face and he smiles at her, the same way he did that summer when they were both seventeen. 

“You came.” He says. 

“I guess I did.” She breathes out a sigh. 

“Come on in.” She walks into the apartment when he steps aside to let her in. “Can I get you anything? I don’t have much but I can order something.” 

She shakes her head. “No, it’s fine. Just...let’s talk, please.” 

He nods his head, guiding her to the couch, a hand on her back. She takes a visible deep breath when he does, he’s gentle when he looks at her when they sit, he’s just as beautiful as before, sitting next to her on the couch, the dim light of the living room making her think of Paris nights in a hotel room. 

“I’ve never not known how to act around you.” Her head snaps up at him. “It’s always been easy. Right now, I don’t know how to tell you what I’m about to tell you.” 

“Just say it then. What’s it gonna change?” 

“I don’t know, Betty. Maybe the way you see me right now. Who I was, Paris, everything.” He tells her. 

“We had this conversation in Paris, Jughead. I can take it. Whatever you have to say, it won’t change anything. We’re probably just going to go back to how it’s always been. Either I leave or you do. So just say what you have to say.” 

There’s a pause, a lingering moment where everything stops as she stares back at him, watching the nervousness present on his face, the boy she fell in love with, the kind and gentle man she still loves in her heart, the one that could change everything. But she’s not expecting the words that fall from his lips. 

“I have a daughter.” 

Her eyes widen. “What?” She whispers. 

“She’s six years old. And she’s everything.” He smiles softly. And Betty doesn’t say anything, she seems to be taking it in, trying to figure it out in her head. 

Then she looks at him. “Paris, Jug. You could’ve told me you had her. You told me about your dad, everything. You could’ve-“ 

“She was conceived on the night he died.” He cuts her off. 

“Oh, Jug...” She breathes out. 

He sighs. “I was told he was gone and I got drunk, wasted and I can’t really remember it but I woke up the next morning on a stranger’s bed the next morning. Apparently, we exchanged numbers and a couple of months later, I got a phone call.”

“About your daughter.” He nods his head. “And her mother?” 

Jughead laughs bitterly. “We went through with the pregnancy and then after she gave birth, she left. As soon as she was released from the hospital, she signed off the rights and left me with a newborn.” 

“I’m sorry.” She murmurs. 

“I’m not. Lizzie’s better off without that woman. We got through it.” 

“Lizzie. That’s her name?” Her voice is shaky and Jughead’s eyes widen at his slip up. 

“I named her Elizabeth. It was probably wrong of me, considering everything and it probably makes you uncomfortable-“ 

“You named her after me?” 

He smiles. “I did. I named her after the woman who changed everything for me. She fits the part too, trust me.” His soft chuckles makes her heart flutter, her eyes welling up with tears. “Shit, no, don’t cry, I’m sorry.” He inches closer to her. 

“Oh god, it’s just...you named your child after me, Jughead. That’s a lot. It’s...I can’t. God damn it.” She sniffles, wiping away her tears. “Why didn’t you come to Paris that day?” She blurts out.”

“Lizzie got sick. And I was stuck between taking care of her and finishing up the new book and then I thought you deserved to just forget about me.” 

Betty groans. “I waited for you, you asshole. For hours. I flew to Paris for you and you’re telling I deserved to forget you? No! You named your daughter after me. We loved each other. You were the greatest thing that happened to me! I could never forget you, Jughead Jones!” She hits his chest, huffing. “No matter how many times you pushed me away.” 

“I don’t wanna keep pushing you away. I...I’m probably too late for this but I just-“ 

She crashed her lips into his. It takes him a second to register what’s happening but then he’s pulling her closer, she climbs onto his lap, arms wrapping around his neck. 

Pulling away, she stares into his eyes. “We shouldn’t do this.” 

“No. We shouldn’t.” He whispers weakly and she climbs off his lap. They sit in silence for a few seconds staring at the window in front of the couch. 

Then she glances at him and his head turns to her. “Fuck it.” She says before climbing on top of him again. In the blink of an eye, she feels seventeen, making love in the summer heat in his trailer. 

Betty cries when they’re done, in his bedroom, staring up at the ceiling. “I made a mistake.” She whispers into the darkness. 

“What?” He questions. 

“Oh my god, I have to go!” She says, louder this time, jumping off the bed to get dressed and he stares at her, confused. 

“What the hell is going on, Betty?” 

“I cheated on Michael. I cheated on Michael.” She mutters, as she gets dressed, looking for all her discarded clothes all over his bedroom. “I fucked up.” 

“Who the fuck is Michael?!” He questions, standing up as well. “Betty, answer me! Betty!” She’s sobbing now, guilt washing over her like poison burning her insides. “Stop, please stop for a second.” He walls to her, trying to stop her from moving. 

Betty looks up at him, eyes widen, breathing unevenly. “My fiancé. Michael is my fiancé.” 

“Shit.” He mumbles, as he watches her move out of the bed room. “Betty, wait!” He runs to her. 

“This is all my fault. I never should’ve come. I knew something like this would happen. I never should’ve set foot in your goddamn conference.” She rants, not even looking at him as she rushes to the door. 

“Betty!” He grabs her, turning her so she’s face to face to him. “Do you love him?” 

She’s staring at him bewildered. “Jug...I can’t do this. I’m getting married in two days. This shouldn’t have happened.” 

“Then why do we keep doing this, huh?” 

“Because we’re idiots. Because I’m an idiot who falls in every time you’re around. And I can’t do that. Not anymore. I’m getting married and I...” She huffs, closing her eyes for a second. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Jughead.” 

“Don’t marry him, please! Let’s just do this. You and me, for real, we can do that, huh? We could work it out! I love you.” He pulls her to him, placing his forehead on hers. “Please.” He whispers. “Please let me love you.” His fingers trace her cheeks and there’s a moment, he can feel it, somewhere inside of her, she wants him just as much as he wants her, she loves him just the same, their souls meant to be in love. 

But she pulls away, tears staining her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Juggie.” 

The door closes just as his heart shatters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the late update! Hope you like this! 
> 
> Next up, we’re flying to New York, where a little someone named Betty is getting married and where a man rides a bike to try and stop her. You’ll meet a little Jones on our next ride! 
> 
> Tell me what you think xx


	5. New York I

He returns to New York earlier than he was meant to. He misses being home, with Lizzie and after the emotional rollercoaster he’d been through, he needed to be back. He needs Lizzie’s laughter lighting up his day because the shadows of Betty are covering him up. So he leaves her city earlier and heads to the one he lives in. 

Jughead feels drained, like maybe their last shot is over before it even had a chance of beginning. And his chest hurts, because for a second he had really believed they could do it, he together once and for all. But of course, life always had a way to fuck things up. Because of course she’s engaged, of course she’s getting married to someone probably a whole lot better than him, someone perfect with no shitty baggage. 

“Ronnie? I’m almost there.” He speaks into the phone. 

“Oh good, Lizzie hasn’t stopped asking about you since I told her you’d be home earlier than expected.” Veronica laughs softly. “You okay, Jug?” 

He sighs. “We’ll talk when I get there.” 

Veronica doesn’t push him. She’s learned not to over the years despite still being over the top. There’s something about motherhood that has changed her, made her a little more grounded and understanding of people’s boundaries. 

“Alright. See you soon!” 

And it’s not long until he’s at Veronica and Archie’s front door. 

“Daddy!” Lizzie’s voice brings a smile to his face when the door opens to reveal him. She runs to him and he picks her up in his arms, reveling in the smell of her shampoo and her innocence. She’s everything. From the moment she was born, she became his world, the space in his heart grew forever. 

“I missed you, princess.” He murmurs, holding her tightly against him. 

“I missed you too, daddy.” She giggles, face buried in his chest. 

“Get inside, you two! It’s cold out there!” Veronica calls out to them and he laughs, carrying Lizzie inside. 

He puts her down to give an hug to Veronica, smiling into the embrace. “Hey, Ronnie.” Veronica grins back at him before hurrying him further inside the house to the living. There, Archie is laying down on the rug with James, the three year old laughing with his dad. 

Archie looks up from his son to look at him. “Welcome back, man!” He stands up as Lizzie runs to James, making faces at the little boy. He hugs his best friend. “How are you?” 

Jughead sighs, pulling back from the hug. “Yeah, London was quite eventful and it all leads back to one girl, as most things do.” 

Archie frowns. “I heard she’s getting married.” 

“Yeah...” He breathes out and then his brows furrow. “Wait I didn’t tell you, how did you know?” 

It’s Archie’s turn to be confused. “Man, she’s a Cooper. And she’s getting married in New York, it’s made a few headlines. The only reason I know is cause Ronnie watches E-news before bed.” 

Jughead wants to give him a knowing smile because of course Ronnie watches E-news, but he can’t because he didn’t remember she was in New York, didn’t remember the tiny detail that escaped him. He had tried to escape from her but he had flown to her all the same.

“Betty is getting married in like fifteen minutes from here, actually. In about two hours, there was an article about it on people magazine.” 

“Wait, Betty?! Your Betty, daddy?!” Lizzie snaps her head up at him. Jughead nods, frowning. “No, daddy! You have to go get her! You love each other!” 

“Lizzie, it doesn’t work like that. I can’t just drive to her wedding to stop it from happening.” Jughead chuckles softly. 

Lizzie rolls her eyes. “Of course you can, daddy. You’re fifteen minutes away from the girl you love! You have to!” 

“She’s got a point, Jug.” Archie shrugs, wrapping his arm around Ronnie who only smirks at him. 

“Please, daddy! You’ve told me your story a hundred times and I wanna know how it ends. It has to be a happy ending!” Lizzie begs him and Jughead sighs, runs a hand through his hair. “Go, please!” 

“You can mope around while she’s getting married or you can go get her!” Veronica says, shrugging. 

He takes a deep breath, looking down at Lizzie and then back up at his best friends. “Can I borrow your bike, Arch?” 

•

She hasn’t been so nervous she’s puked since high school but she’s been sitting on the floor of this fancy hotel bathroom for half an hour, after puking her guts out, trying to get it together before stepping out there to put on her wedding dress and getting her makeup done. 

Everything feels wrong. It feels so wrong that even her mother notices her off look no matter how many times she flashes her Cooper signature smile. 

“Betts? Can I come in?” Polly’s voice is muffled by the bathroom door. She had flown in specifically for the wedding and she hadn’t had the chance to really be with her.

Betty murmurs a quick yes and Polly walks in, frowning when she sees her on the floor. She sits next to her sister, grabbing her hand. “Feeling better?” 

She laughs softly. “I don’t know, Pol.” 

“What’s this about? Something tells me this isn’t wedding day nerves.” Polly notes, knowingly and Betty’s eyes well up with tears. 

“I fucked everything up, Polly.” She sniffles. 

“Woah, woah, hey, talk to me, what happened?” Polly places her hand on her cheek. “Betty?” She hugs her big sister, crying into her shoulder. “Oh, this is bad, huh?” Polly whispers, rubbing her back. 

“I cheated on Michael.” Betty confesses and Polly’s eyes widen. “This week, two days ago.” 

“Oh, Betty...” Polly frowns. “Can I ask if I-“ 

“Jughead. I cheated on him with Jughead.” She blurts out and Polly sighs, running her hand through her sister’s hair. “You were right. Remember when I went to Paris and I called you, you said that I would always be unhappy if i didn’t chase after what Jug makes me feel, that I’d always settle. And I told you you were wrong, that eventually Jughead would be my past but you were right. I am settling for Michael because I’ve always felt like Jug and I were too risky because somehow everything seems to pull us apart.” 

Polly and Chic were the only ones out of her family that really knew the whole story about Jughead. Her mother only knew that she had dated him the summer before London. 

“You’re getting married today, Betty.” Polly mentions gently. 

“Yeah, no shit.” Betty laughs bitterly. 

The older sister rolls her eyes. “I mean, do you want to?” 

“You know, I envy you, Pol. You’ve always chased after what you wanted not giving a shit what it takes. You’ve always been the brave one out of us. And I’ve always stayed behind and played it safe.” 

“Then don’t. Don’t. Do you love Michael? He’s a nice enough guy and he’s pretty much perfect in every sense of the word, but do you love him? Actually, are you in love with him?” Polly questions. 

Just as she’s about to answer someone bursts through the door. It’s Chic, looking frazzled. 

“Someone named Veronica called. She says Jughead was in a car accident on the way here. Your Jughead, I assume.” Chic tells her and Betty’s eyes widen. 

She doesn’t need more information other than the words ‘Jughead’ and ‘accident’ stringed together. 

“I have to go.” She stands up. “Tell Michael I’m sorry.” 

•

She’s never felt so scared in her life, as she’s sitting in the back of a car driving to the hospital to Jughead. She’d talked to Veronica on the phone, who had given her the informations she needed. The girl she hadn’t talked to in years. The reason why is absolutely horrifying and all she can think about is the mistake she had made in London when she left. 

She’s always hated hospitals. The smell, the whole atmosphere surrounding it made her feel sick and she’s never hated it more than now, as she stands in a elevator going up to where Jughead is. 

All she knows is she can’t lose him just yet, not like this, not without them having a chance at getting it right. 

“Veronica?” She calls out when she sees the raven haired woman sitting on a chair with Archie beside her. Archie is crying and Veronica is the one holding it together, an arm wrapped around a little girl who she assumes is her namesake. On Archie’s lap is a little boy, probably around two, sleeping in his dad’s arms. 

“Betty?” Veronica’s eyes widen and she stand up, walking to her, arms open to wrap her up in her arms. 

“How is he?” She questions, pulling away from Veronica’s embrace. 

A crack in Veronica’s composure makes her heart race and she hates everything about this. “He’s in surgery, they haven’t told us much, but it’s not very good.” Veronica keeps her voice down, surely so Lizzie doesn’t hear her. “He was on his way over to you. On a bike, the car came out of nowhere apparently.”

“It’s my fault. If I hadn’t-“ 

“No, no, no, don’t, Betty, please. He wouldn’t want that. The fault is on that car’s driver.” Veronica tells her in a note she knows and remembers and she doesn’t fight it. Betty’s eyes fall on Archie who has a heartbroken look on his face. 

“I’m so sorry I didn’t keep in touch. I don’t...” She can’t stop the tears from falling.” 

“Betty, it’s okay.” Archie murmurs as she sits next to him. Archie reaches for her hand, giving a soft squeeze before letting go. “Life happens.” 

“Auntie V?” She hears Lizzie whisper to Veronica. “She’s prettier than in the pictures.” The little girl had been sitting shyly all while Betty talked to Veronica and Archie. 

“Wanna say hi?” Veronica and Betty smiles softly at the little girl. Lizzie climbs off her seat, walking to stand in front of her. 

“Hi.” Betty whispers. “I’m Betty.” 

Lizzie smiles at her. “I know. Daddy told me all about you.”

“Your daddy told you about me?” 

“Your love story. It’s better than any other story.” Betty can’t help but throw her arms around the little girl, hugging her closely and Lizzie snuggles into her. “And we have the same name.” 

“We do, huh?” 

“Yeah, daddy talks about you all the time.” Betty brushes a strand of hair off her face. 

“Then I’m glad to finally meet you, princess.” She wishes it was in other circumstances. 

Lizzie attaches herself to Betty almost immediately, telling her everything about herself and Betty loves every minute of it, not only because she wants to know this part of Jughead but because it takes her mind off the situation they’re all in. 

“Family of Forsythe Pendleton Jones?” 

The voice makes them all jump from their seats, Archie with James in his arms. 

“Mr. Jones is stable. He has a few broken ribs and the glass punctured his lung and there were a few complications but we’ve successfully removed it, there are a few other minor injuries but he’s doing okay so far. He’s out of surgery, you can visit him when everything is settled, we’ll call you. He’s a lucky guy.” 

“Daddy’s gonna be okay?” Lizzie looks up at Betty, arms wrapped around her. 

“Yeah, sweetie, he will.” 

•

She counts to ten before opening the door to his room. She’d been preparing a whole speech and now that he was awake, everything she had thought of saying flew out the door and her mind goes blank as soon as she sees him lying in a hospital bed. 

“Jug?” She mumbles as she walks towards the bed. 

“Am I really that high on medication or are you here?” He says with a soft smile and she chuckles softly, reaching for his hand. 

“I’m here.” 

He doesn’t say anything for a few seconds and then he furrows his eyebrows“Shouldn’t you be getting married?” The smile disappears from his face. “I was tryna to stop you from doing it, that’s why I was-“ 

“I know. But I think I was gonna call it off anyway.” She swallows the lump in her throat.

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” She nods and the corners of his lips move upwards. “You scared the hell out of me. I thought I was gonna lose you. I thought I already had when I left you but I was planning on trying to get you back. I don’t know what i would’ve done if you...” She trails off, sighing, as she holds his hand. “I was never in love with Michael. He’s a perfect guy, really and for the past two years I’ve been lying to myself, saying that I wanted him and that it was good enough but the truth is...it’s not. At all. It’s not what I want.” He wants to wipe her tears away. 

“Betts...” He frowns. 

“God, I don’t deserve you, Jug. You’re always saying how you don’t deserve me but it’s the other way around. And I hurt you and I hurt myself even if my intentions weren’t completely wrong. But still, I would...like it if we could just...” She takes a deep breath and then drops his hand to bring hers to his bruise face. “I was hoping maybe we could give ourselves a shot at doing this. I’m done settling. And I wanna chase after what I really want. And what I want...is you.” 

Jughead grins at her. “God, if I could I’d kiss you so bad right now.” She rolls her eyes, laughing softly before bringing herself up to him to press her lips to his. “I love you.” He murmurs and she smiles. 

“I love you too, Juggie.” She whispers and then she sits back down on the chair. “I met Lizzie.” 

“She told me.” He nods “What do you think?” 

At his question, she can only smile. Lizzie is an incredible little girl and she can see Jughead in her personality, her kindness and softness, her smile lighting up the room. “She’s amazing. You’ve done an amazing job with her.” She tells him. “And I heard you told her about me, about us.” 

Jughead smiles. “I did. It’s her favorite story.” 

“So I’ve been told.” 

“She likes you. A lot. She didn’t shut up about you the whole time she was in here.” He tells her with a huge smile on his face. 

“I like her too.” 

•

It’s been two weeks and Jughead’s been back home for four days. And Betty’s stayed with him for the whole time. She had been staying at a hotel while he was in the hospital, although she spent most her time there with him. 

She had settled everything with Michael. As well as she could. It had been surprisingly easier than she thought it would be. She was surprised to find him calm, with nothing but fondness towards her. He told her that in a way he was expecting it, that he knew and felt that she was never truly his, that there were parts of her that he would never know and that she would end up resenting him for the rest of her life. Michael had been easier to deal with than her mother. Betty had very calmly explained everything that was happening with her, why she cancelled the wedding and she had very calmly listened to everything her mother had to say about how wrong she was, how Michael was perfect for her. Betty told her about how for most of her life, she had obeyed, lived up to expectations thrown at her since birth, how despite not taking over her family’s company, she had prevailed, building her own life, at her terms. She told her mother about Jughead, how for the first time, in Riverdale when she was seventeen, she felt true freedom and happiness, deep in her soul. And he had shown her that feeling through the years despite being separated constantly. She wanted that feeling forever, so she called off the wedding and went after it. 

Two weeks and she’s the happiest she’s ever been, despite the constant worry with Jughead’s well being. She’s been with him the whole time, helping with his recovery, taking care of Lizzie. The little girl was taken with her, always cuddled up to her side and Betty’s heart soared with love for a little girl she had known for such little time. 

She was scared, afraid that they were moving all in too fast, but she wasn’t going to let her fear get in the way of her happiness, not again, not when she had them. 

“Betts, please sit down, everything’s fine, okay, up to speed and all that, huh?” Jughead smiles softly at her from his place on the couch. 

“I should make some dinner, you have to eat, Jug.” 

“Cooper, if I could I would bring you over right now.” He rolls his eyes. “We’ll order pizza.” He pleads, his smile making her flutter in her chest. “I know a little person who would absolutely love that.” 

Betty sighs before sitting beside him, wrapping her arms around him carefully. “I just worry, I want you okay and healthy.” 

“Betts...” He places a soft kiss on her head. “You’ve done so much for me, for us , for the past few weeks and I don’t know how I’m ever going to repay you. You don’t have to, okay? You’ve done more than enough. More than you should’ve. And I hate seeing you run around, I want you to relax, okay? Just be with me? That’s all I want right now.” 

Relaxing into his touch, she looks up at him. “I just...It was my fault, you were coming to stop me from getting married and I rejected you in London because I stupidly afraid. I don’t...” 

“Don’t do that. Don’t blame yourself. You don’t have to feel guilty about any of that.” He shakes his head. “We’ve both made mistakes and we’ve denied ourselves the simple pleasure of having each other, of happiness, for our own reasons, irrational reasons that are part what we are. What matters is that now we can move past that and finally accept that we deserve this, we deserve to be happy and we deserve each other. We deserve a chance to make this work. And we will, okay?” She nods, placing her lips on his in a slow kiss. “I love you.” 

“Jughead Jones, I love you.” 

“Betty!” Lizzie’s voice makes her laugh, as it sounds throughout the apartment. “I’m done now!” 

“The princess awaits.” Betty chuckles, pressing a quick kiss to his lips before climbing off the couch, making her way to Lizzie’s room. “Hey, sweetie, all done?” 

“I’m done with homework, my Pjs on and I’m ready to roll, Betts!” Lizzie giggles. “Are we still making cookies?” She asks as she grabs onto her hand and they make their way to the living room. 

“After dinner, sure. But first, daddy had a pretty good idea for dinner.” Betty grins. 

“What is it?” 

“Only the greatest masterpiece of mankind, my lady.” Jughead fakes an accent making the two girls laugh. “Pizza!” 

•

“Listen, I’ll be back soon, once everything is settled in London. And then we’re on for Friday pizzas and movie dates, yeah?” Betty smiles, crouched down in front of Lizzie. 

“Can we have a tea party when you get back?” Lizzie pouts. 

“Of course we can, we’ll see if your dad dresses up as well, huh?” The little girl giggles. “Alright, I’ll see you soon, princess, okay?” 

Lizzie nods and then places her hands on Betty’s face. “I love you, Betts.” And the she hugs her and Betty really can’t help the tears she’d been keeping at bay from falling. 

“I love you too, sweetheart. So much.” She murmurs. “Alright.” She stands up, eyes looking up to find her favorite pair of green eyes. “I’ll be back, you know that, right?” 

Jughead laughs softly. “I know. Our new promise, right?” 

“There is no someday. Someday is today.” 

“Today, so I know you’ll get back to me. You always will.” 

“I’ll be home soon.” She places her lips to his. “Love you.” 

“Love you too.” He pecks her lips one more time before she leaves and then she smiles and walks away, looking back at him a few times before disappearing into the airport. “Okay, kiddo, let’s go.” 

Once in the Uber, Lizzie leans against him when she mumbles, sleepily into his shoulder, the late hour of the night gaining up on her. “I want Betty to be my mommy forever, daddy.” 

“You do?” 

“You think she’ll like that? Being my mommy?” 

“You’ll have to ask her when she gets back, baby. But I’m pretty sure she will.” 

She falls asleep the second after and he’s left with his heart full, the day of her return already on his mind. And the days of their forever to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo sorry for the delay on this chapter, got a bit of writerms block but I made it out! 
> 
> Tell me what you feel about this! Comments are always a way for me to improve, you thoughts and your critics always make want to write more! 
> 
> All the love xx

**Author's Note:**

> Hiii, hope you like this. Pretty please tell me what you think and if I should continue this!!


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